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Ren and Stimpy (characters)
Ren and Stimpy, created by John Kricfalusi, are the title characters in the Nickelodeon animated series The Ren & Stimpy Show and the TNN series Ren and Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon". Kricfalusi created the characters during his stay at Sheridan College and they first appeared on film in the pilot episode "Big House Blues". Ren is a scrawny, violently psychotic, emotionally unstable Chihuahua dog, and Stimpy is a fat, stupid, dimwitted, good-natured Manx cat. They are often at odds with each other on the show, though they do share moments of closeness together. Sexuality From its start, there were hints at the characters' sexuality. During the Spümcø years of the show on Nickelodeon, a running gag would have Ren and Stimpy engaging in something intimate (such as Stimpy bathing Ren during the episode "Nurse Stimpy"), with Stimpy assuring Ren that "no one will know" about the private and rather embarrassing encounter, only to pan towards a window in the room and showing several characters (including Mr. Horse) witnessing the event. The episode "Sven Hoek" shows Stimpy having a romantic affair with Ren's cousin Sven, including an intimate "private" moment in Stimpy's litterbox and scrawling "Sven ♥ Stimpy" all over the walls. This was dropped after Spümcø was fired from the show. Jeffery P. Dennis said in the journal article "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons" that Ren and Stimpy are within a world where "gay identities cannot exist," so the series portrays same-sex romantic desire as "anomalous and perverse." Dennis added that the critics of the series "made much" of the gay connotations of Ren and Stimpy, such as their sharing of a house and bed, their reminiscing of a wedding, and Stimpy's "giving birth" to flatulence. Dennis said that Ren is "socially and sexually" the aggressor in the relationship; in addition he says that some episodes portray Stimpy as "a stereotypical 1950s wife" who cleans, cooks food, and irons Ren's underwear. Dennis stated that the aspects "may adhere to a reading of a sexual relationship." Dennis concludes that the relationship between Ren and Stimpy is a parody of heterosexual relationships rather than an actual gay or an actual romantic relationship. Dennis adds that in other situations Ren and Stimpy are "read more appropriately" as coworkers, enemies, friends, and house pets. Dennis argues that Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo are more consistently gay than Ren and Stimpy. Dennis also stated that the scenes of Ren and Stimpy as a couple emulate a heterosexual couple instead of being a union between two men. In a response to Dennis' statements, Martin Goodman of Animation World Network said that Kricfalusi had outed Ren and Stimpy as gay and adds that while the Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" had not yet been released and therefore Ren and Stimpy had not been explicitly portrayed as gay, Ren and Stimpy would qualify as a consistently gay couple since they share a bed, live as partners, discuss a planned wedding, and had a "child," with the child being flatulence.Goodman, Martin. "Deconstruction Zone — Part 2." Animation World Network. March 10, 2004. Retrieved on October 27, 2009. References Category:Animated duos Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1990 Category:LGBT characters in animation Category:Male characters in animation Category:Nicktoon characters Ren and Stimpy Category:Fictional cats Category:Fictional dogs Category:Fictional anthropomorphic characters